Tuesday, 21 February 2012

My last day in New
Zealand dawned with clear skies and the
promise of hot sunshine.Goodbyes are
always hard and it felt sad to say farewell to people I’d lived closely with
for the last nine days.But time never
stands still and a holiday wouldn’t be a holiday if it didn’t end.

My flight wasn’t until 8.30pm that evening so after checking out I left my
luggage safely in the hotel and went into the centre of Christchurch.Despite the good weather, the CBD still felt depressing.The only shops were temporary ones housed in
containers.The bus driver complained
about roads closing, suddenly, without warning, making her job stressful.

I wonder what will happen to this city still in a state of devastation one
year on from the earthquake.I didn’t
stay for very long but caught another bus to the Westfield Mall where I bought
a few bits and pieces and then returned to the hotel to enjoy a last few hours
in the warm, sunny gardens before the long flight home – Christchurch to
Auckland, Auckland to Hong Kong and Hong Kong to London and home.

Sitting now on the last leg of the journey, brain confused by shifting time
and aeroplane sleep or lack of, I’m glad I wrote this travel blog to look back
on and remind me of all I saw and did, the different places I visited, the
contrasts both vast and subtle between each place I visited, North Island and
South Island, Hong Kong and New Zealand, the colour, culture and nature all so
different to home.

There were so many highlights it’s not easy to pick favourites but three
stand out in my mind – Cape Reinga at the very tip of the North
Island, the penguins at Dunedin, Milford Sound,
the Fox Glacier and the Kauri and tropical rainforests. London will seem very ordinary in comparison.

Sunday, 19 February 2012

Last day of the tour and a relatively late start much to the relief of most
of the group as we weren’t leaving till 9am.
Fox Glacier is a tiny place of about three streets; mostly pubs and
hotels with one little supermarket and a petrol station. There were however a
few nice walks so as I had plenty of time and it was sunny but cool I decided
to do 20 minute one. It was lovely,
taking you through rainforest but their twenty minutes turned out to be more
like ten..

Our first stop on the way to Greymouth was in Hokitika, to look at the Jade
factory. It was also an opportunity to
go down to the beach, which being on the West Coast of New Zealand is the Tasman Sea. Unlike
most of the beaches I’ve been to, this one was very stony, interspersed with
black sand. There were also some very
intriguing sculptures made out of dead branches.

From Hokitika we went to Greymouth where the Trans Alpine train
departs. I’d decided not to get on there
but join the train at the next stop Arthurs Pass. I’m very glad I did because the coach
actually went over the pass whereas the train goes through the tunnel. Also when we stopped at a look-out point to
see the viaduct we’d just travelled on, there was a group of Kea (alpine
parrots) who weren’t in the least bit camera shy and took rather a fancy to a
bright pink car. When that moved away
they started to peck at our coach. They
are very colourful – green with red bright red on the underside of their wings. We spent ages taking photographs and even
Marty, the tour director, had his camera out.
In the excitement, I almost forgot to take photos of the view and had to
get off the coach again to capture the imposing mountains and deep ravines.

It was quite chilly at Arthurs
Pass which is about 735
feet above sea level.and the train was late.
It was well worth the wait as it wound its way through high mountains
that looked down on deep river valleys and dense rainforest. The rivers were cloudy blue, carrying glacial
minerals and most of the rivers were braided, which means there was a wide
expanse of grey scree riverbed and narrow channels of water.

The train driver gave commentary throughout and had a very dry deadpan sense
of humour, mostly at his teenage daughter’s expense but it was entertaining.

We went through a series of tunnels and then suddenly the mountains
disappeared, the land became the flat expanse of the golden Canterbury Plains
and the weather turned grey and colder.
It felt very drab fter the drama of the mountain landscape.

There was just enough time to grab suitcases and buy a drink in the bar of
the hotel before dinner was ready. Our
last meal as a group. It was a shame the
hotel put us on small tables instead of one big one as it would have been nice
to all sit together.

After eating we headed back to the bar, including the driver and tour
director for one last evening together.
I was glad that my flight was at a sensible time. Some of the Aussies had to leave at 4am the
following day.

Saturday, 18 February 2012

After two nights in one place it was time to get back on the coach and say
goodbye to the buzzing, hilly Queenstown.
As soon as the cases were loaded we were on our way to Fox Glacier,
stopping on the way at the small goldmining town of Arrowtown, though to describe it as a town
probably gives the wrong impression. It
was more of a village with more tourists walking down the main street than
residents at the place. It was pretty and I am guessing there were lots of nice
walks in the surrounding mountains.
We drove through very mountainous, barren landscapes and then suddenly the
scenery changed and we saw wineries and lots of fruit farms, stopping at one to
taste the cherries, apricots, kiwi fruit and a selection of dried fruits. Of course I couldn’t resist buying as well, I
can’t survive without fruit and my supply of apricots bought in Dunedin had been eaten a
few days ago.

Our next stop was at the Thunder
Creek Falls
to see a waterfall high in the rocky mountain face. As we got back on the coach we saw another
attraction across the road but this one wouldn’t be found on any tourist
map. A couple of middle aged ladies,
wearing bright pink tops had paused in the bush. One was acting as lookout while the other
disappeared into the bush. I’m not sure
who was the doziest – the lookout for not warning her friend she was in full
view of a coach load of people, or the lady caught short for not finding a
bigger tree. We, however had a splendid
view of her rather public convenience and waved at them as we pulled out and
drove past just as she was pulling up her white shorts.

Still laughing, we drove over the Haast Past and followed the Haast river to
the Glacier. It is quite sobering to see
the markers where the glacier reached a hundred odd years ago, fifty odd years
ago and now. It is retreating too
quickly and one can’t help wondering if our abuse of the planet is hastening
the glacier’s disappearance.

Because some people were booked onto helicopter flights over the glacier and
had a set time, we couldn’t have as much time as I would have liked to walk up
to near the edge of the ice. We were
told the walk takes an hour but were only given half an hour there. Four of us set of at a cracking pace and made
it there and back within the allotted time and even managed to take
photographs. It was definitely worth the
exercise to get that much closer.

I had imagined the ice to be white or grey but there was a lot of turquoise
blue interspersed with the white and it really is a river of ice. Also I hadn’t expected the area around to be
made up of so many grey stones. Nor did I think the surrounding area would be
covered in rainforest. It was also
warmer than I had imagined and I didn’t even need the extra jacket and gloves.

Once we’d dropped of those who were doing the flight we went to the
hotel. Dinner was a sit down, three
course meal (I might need two seats on
the plane home) and afterwards our tour guide, Marty, brought his guitar to the
lounge and we had a good laugh singing along to his playing, accompanied by our
resident drummer, Paul alias the driver, playing the stainless steel salad
bowl. It was fun. A few of us stayed
chatting once the jamming session was over and then moved to the pub when the
bar shut.

Hard to believe tomorrow is our last day of travelling and seeing the sites. The month has gone very quickly; too quickly.

Friday, 17 February 2012

No early alarm call this
morning as we weren’t moving on but spending the day in Queenstown. There were activities that could be booked
but I decided it was time for a bit of exercise to work off all those three
course meals I’d eaten this week. It was
also a chance to do some laundry.
Naturally everyone had the same idea but I was in the laundry room when
it opened at seven this morning so managed to get in first.

Clothes washed and dried, I set off to walk up the mountain behind our
hotel. It wasn’t too difficult to find
the start of the marked walking trails up to the top of the Gondola ride but
the first trail I tried wasn’t well signposted and I ended up very confused so
retraced my steps to find a different one.
Second problem – that one was closed.
Eventually, I found a third trail and began the steep ascent. Good thing, mountain goat is my middle name
as it was very steep and narrow in places with tree roots as steps in places.
Still, it could have been worse - near the top where the path was wide but
steep, one guy was struggling to cycle up.
Personally, I would have dismounted and pushed the bike, walking at that
point was far quicker.

It was well worth the climb for the fantastic view over the town, lake and
mountains. I sat for a while watching people hurtling down the luge and bungy
jumping.

The descent back to Queenstown was a lot quicker than the ascent. Two hours up and about forty minutes
down. I sat by the lake to have lunch
and then found a café, where for the price of pot of tea I could have free
internet access for a long as I wanted.
Lots of other people had the same idea.

Then it was time to go back to the hotel and get ready for a gondola ride
and dinner at the skyline restaurant. It
was a buffet but with so much food, so many choices. Starters were soup, lots of fish and seafood,
salads, cold meat. Main courses included
a carvery, hot chicken, venison, vegetables, potato bakes, pasta, pad thai. Dessert gave a choice of cakes, sticky toffee
muffins, pavlova, ice cream, fruit salad, jellies, crème brule and a cheese
board. I think I was quite restrained
compared to some others who had two or three starters, a big main, cake and
cheese board.

Everyone staggered back down the gondola and onto the coach to the hotel,
full and contented. Tomorrow’s wake up
call will be at seven.

Thursday, 16 February 2012

Our cruise across Milford
Sound was booked for 11am and was well worth the early morning start. Prepared with lots of layers and lunch bought
the day before, we left Te Anau and headed for the Milford Road, the only route to and from
the Sound. On the way we stopped at the
Mirror lake, which fitted its description perfectly. The backdrop to the journey was
impressive. Tall granite mountains
covered with scree, scrub, bush and at the very top snow. It was hard to know whether to look to the
left or right. There were a couple of
hold ups, the first was the tunnel, cut through the mountain as it is only
single lane and controlled by traffic lights.
Then further along were road works, which held us up for ages.

Finally we reached the boat
and went aboard. Despite my recent
experiences of freezing when on open water, I headed upstairs to the front of
the boat and I’m glad I did. This trip
wasn’t as cold as the others I’d done, though as usual my fingers went numb –
not good for taking photographs but bearable.

The view can only be
described as spectacular - a long deep fjord flanked on each side by towering
granite mountains that looked majestic and contrasted dramatically with the
deep clear water. Just before we reached
the point of return, where the fjord became the Tasman Sea, we spotted some
dolphins and though they moved to quickly to photograph, were a thrill to see
and watch them leap out of the water and dive back in again. We also saw brown fur seals basking on the
rocks and the most impressive waterfall that tumbled from a great height. There was just time at the end to grab a free
cup of lovely hot tea and eat my sandwich.

Then began the long journey
back the way we came to Queenstown, with a short stop to look at the Chasm (an unusl waterfall that was in a chasm) and another brief stop in Te Anau.

There was just enough time
when we got to the hotel to take off my walking shoes and a few layers then go
down for dinner, which was a buffet that included the best vegetable lasagne
I’ve eaten in a long time.After eating, I decided to
take a wander into the centre of Queenstown.
The guide said it would take 30 mins but going down hill, actually only
took fifteen to twenty minutes. There
was a beautiful sunset over the mountains and later myriad stars in the sky. I've never seen so many at once.

As I was walking by the
lake I heard some singing coming from the Irish pusb – a couple of guys with
guitars. They sounded great so I went in
and spent the evening listening to the music.
It was also happy hour so the beer was reasonably priced - Speights of course.